Amherst Slang

Know the slang, know the
school. The following is a list of
things you really need to know
before coming to Amherst. The
more of these words you know,
the better off you'll be.

Hookup

By Amherst
standards: any private
interaction between a couple
short of full-blown sex.

Moes

Female students from
Mount Holyoke College.

Planworld

Everybody uses
Planworld here. It's a Web
space that allows you to write
down what you're going to do
today, what your dreams and
wishes are, and basically, just
babble infinitely. Check it out
at www.planworld.com.

Pre-game

To drink in the
dorm room with friends before
going out.

RC

Resident Counselor. A
student who, in theory, is in
charge of providing guidance
and assistance to a floor in a
residence hall, and in reality
just keeps his floormates from
doing something that would
get them arrested.

Smithies

Female students
from Smith College.

StalkerNet

A disturbing
nickname for Amherst
College's online campus
directory. Pictures of all
students can be found there,
and oftentimes, students use
this directory to check other
students out and see whether
they're good-looking or not.

“Shut Down”

To fail
miserably in the art of courting
a girl.

Nicknames for Locations

Freshmen Quad

Established in 1996, by the initiative of two student RCs, it is the huge lawn surrounded by Frost Library; James and Stearns; Williston, North, South, and Appleton; and Johnson Chapel. Most of the dorms surrounding the quad are freshmen dorms, hence the name.

The Frontroom

A large room on the second floor of Campus Center. It has a stage and hosts live performances.

The Hill

Where the dorms Tyler, Plimpton and Marsh are located. It's what it sounds like: a steep hill, and people who live in those dorms are considered to be living faraway, or even off campus.

JohnChap

Johnson Chapel.

The Mudds

The not-so-nice nickname of the dorms Waldorf-Astoria and Plaza.

The red room

Cole Assembly Room, which is in Converse Hall and has a wall-to-wall red carpeting.

The Social Dorms

A group of dorms that are geographically close and that contain room suites, in which students live with their friends and share a common room and a bathroom. Another reason that these dorms are called social dorms is the many wild parties that go on there.

TAP

The Amherst Party, which are parties sponsored by the college itself.

The Triangle

A name for the group of dorms consisting of Seelye, Mayo Smith, and Hitchcock. These dorms form the shape of a triangle between them.

Val

Valentine Dining Hall.

The Zu

Pronounced similarly to the word “zoo,” this is the name given to the Humphries student co-op theme house. Many students don't even know that the dorm is officially called Humphries.